New Delhi: Eighteen wickets fell on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final at Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium, Rohtak, eight of which were taken by Haryana medium pacer Harshal Patel in skittling out defending champions Rajasthan for 89 Tuesday.

By stumps the hosts were 82 for eight.

In the other semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium, Tamil Nadu recovered from a precarious 139 for six to end the day at 250 without any further loss, thanks to a 111-run unfinished seventh wicket stand between Ramaswamy Prasanna (81) and Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh (34).

Haryana won the toss and elected to field on a cold Rohtak morning. Patel caused panic in Rajasthan's camp after reducing the team five for 29.

Out of the top eight batsmen, opener Vineet Saxena (32) was the only won to get into double figures for the defending champions.

Haryana in their reply were as dismal as the visitors with the top five batsmen back in the hut with the score on twelve.

However, a gritty 33-run partnership between Jayant Yadav and Mohit Sharma for the eight-wicket took Haryana to within seven runs of their opponent's score.